Free Republic

Experts say that in addition to protections for free speech, there are difficulties with proving leaked documents are classified, under a US government executive order which sets limits on documents that can be properly termed as classified documents. However, if charges are made against Julian Assange under the law in the US, then he would face extradition under the controversial UK-US extradition treaty, which provides special measures for extraditions between the two countries.

Los Angeles -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides on Thursday maintained his campaign did nothing wrong when it downloaded an audio tape of a private meeting from the governor's Web site. Instead, the state treasurer sought to steer the debate away from the legal or ethical questions of obtaining the file and focus attention on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's comments. The governor was overheard on the tapes, during a private meeting with staff members last March, remarking about the fiery temperament that results from the mixing of "black blood" and "Latino blood." "As I understand it, this audiotape was downloaded from...

The "nuclear" showdown that is expected to begin unfolding in the Senate today has its origins in closed-door discussions more than three years ago between key Senate Democrats and outside interest groups as they huddled to plot strategies for blocking President Bush's judicial nominees. In a Nov. 7, 2001, internal memo to Sen. Richard J. Durbin, who is now the minority whip, an aide described a meeting that the Illinois Democrat had missed between groups opposed to Mr. Bush's nominees and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and member of the Judiciary Committee. "Based on input from the groups, I...

Staffer in spying case says political threats hurt prospects at firm WASHINGTON--A former top Republican Senate staff member who resigned under pressure last year for spying on his Democratic staff colleagues is now accusing them of threatening partners at a law firm that was considering hiring him--including the firm's chairman, a prominent Boston attorney--in order to scuttle his job offer. In an affidavit he submitted to federal prosecutors this week, Manuel Miranda, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, said that Democratic staffers on the Senate Judiciary Committee telephoned partners at the firm of McDermott Will & Emory...

Warning contains "Profanity" but sooo funny! http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2004/11/2000-redux-four-more-years-of-american.html

Instead of President Bush repeatedly apologizing over the alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison – he should be asking the following question: "Why is whistleblower Spc. Joe Darby praised as a hero for alerting superiors of photos depicting his counterparts abusing prisoners, when former senior aide to Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Manuel Miranda was lied to, misrepresented, slandered, stabbed in the back first by Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah, and then Frist, while being referred to in the most abusive terms for showing no less temerity in what has become known as Memogate?" Someone in the Republican Party...

<p>The Department of Justice has assigned a U.S. attorney to investigate whether any federal crimes were committed when Republican staffers downloaded thousands of Democratic Judiciary Committee staff memos.</p> <p>In a letter sent yesterday to a bipartisan group of senators who requested the investigation, Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella said the case will be handled with the "utmost professionalism" by David Kelley, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.</p>

Hatch caught in embarrassing online tryst with publisher of stolen Democratic documents Twice in the days before right wing activist Kay Daly published stolen Democratic documents on her website, Senator Orrin Hatch appeared on fringe internet radio shows with her. On Oct. 29, 2003, he appeared on her Free Republic radio "Daly Show" and on Nov. 11, 2003, he appeared on another Free Republic radio show with her. Manuel Miranda appeared on Ms. Daly's radio show just two weeks earlier. Kay Daly was the first person to publish complete versions of the stolen documents. Miranda still denies leaking the stolen...

Three top Senate conservatives have told GOP conservative groups to lay off Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who helped trigger a controversial investigation into leaked Democratic Judiciary Committee documents. Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), both members of the Judiciary panel, personally delivered that message to a group of nearly 20 conservative leaders last week. Senate Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) also briefly attended the meeting on Capitol Hill. The 90-minute session grew heated at times, as the visiting conservative leaders repeatedly interrupted the senators and questioned their handling of the memo controversy....

<p>Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee fiercely denounced staffers in their own party yesterday for secretly accessing computer files of their Democratic colleagues.</p> <p>Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican and member of the Judiciary Committee, said that acquiring the Democratic memos was "an unethical or illegal wrong."</p>

Mr. Noel Hillman Chief, Public Integrity Section Criminal Division U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20531-0001 10 February 2004 Dear Mr. Hillman: In a recent complaint addressed to the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee, Mr. Manuel Miranda, former Majority Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and General Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, apprised Committee Chief Counsel Robert Walker of the following revelation: “I have read documents evidencing public corruption by elected officials and staff of the United States Senate. . . . This includes evidence of the direct influencing of the Senate's advice and...

Manuel Miranda, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's staff lawyer who ran his judicial confirmation campaign, last Friday resigned under pressure. His scalp was demanded by Democrats, and Republicans complied. That showed who is ready and willing to play the tough partisan game in the U.S. Senate -- and who is not. Frist's willingness to throw his own aide overboard concluded a spectacular exhibition of the muscular Democratic minority's triumph of the will, personified by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. By a stroke of luck, Republicans had found a trail of e-mail messages by Democrats that exposed a coolly crafted plan to...